Robert Hurst is the author of The Art of [Urban] Cycling, The Art of Mountain Biking: Singletrack Skills for All Riders, The Cyclist's Manifesto, Best Bike Rides Denver and Boulder, Road Biking Colorado's Front Range, Mountain Biking Colorado's San Juan Mountains: Durango and Telluride, and The Bicycle Commuter's Handbook.

When the doctrine of allegiance to party can utterly up-end a man’s moral constitution and make a temporary fool of him besides, what excuse are you going to offer for preaching it, teaching it, extending it, perpetuating it?

Shall you say, the best good of the country demands allegiance to party? Shall you also say it demands that a man kick his truth and his conscience into the gutter, and become a mouthing lunatic, besides?

-- Twain

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Former president Touré, who came to power in a coup in 1991, enjoyed US military and economic support for many years. According to figures released by the US government, Washington backed Mali with $138 million in 2011 and planned to increase its support to $170 million in 2012. A joint military manoeuvre between US forces and the Mali army took place in January.

The new ruler is by no means unknown to the US government. Sanogo took part in language training courses in Texas from August 2004 until February 2005. In 2007, he was schooled by the US Secret Service and trained as an infantry officer in Georgia for five months.

It is quite possible that Sanogo’s coup was arranged in cooperation with the US government. However, imperialist forces will not be happy with the result because Mali’s north is still in the hands of the insurgents. A future UN intervention supported by the US cannot be excluded, because for Washington, Mali is particularly important from the standpoint of containing Chinese influence in Africa.

Just as the international intervention in Libya was aimed in part at denying China access to North African oil, a military intervention in Mali in cooperation with the US would target Chinese influence in the country.

This influence has grown in recent years. Chinese direct investments in Mali increased 300-fold from 1995 to 2008. Mali ranks with Zambia, South Africa and Egypt among African countries where China has made its largest investments.

In addition to the United States, France also has an intense interest in its former colony, and is just waiting to “rescue” the country’s cultural heritage with a military intervention backed by the UN Security Council. ….

It’s a great city to start in: according to the Los Angeles Times, 40 per cent of the cargo freight that enters the US comes through ports in Long Beach and Los Angeles before being shipped down the highway. Cargo trucks in the US consume nearly 2.5 million gallons of oil per year and improvements to their efficiency lag far behind those to cars.

Once the lines are in place, all eHighway would need is a fleet of hybrid diesel-electric trucks that could switch back to diesel power as soon as they go off the overhead lines. Siemens says that system is nearly seamless: in the test project in Germany, the trucks could switch between diesel and electric power at speeds of up to 90 miles per hour.

BTW, energy journalism alert — “Cargo trucks in the US consume nearly 2.5 million gallons of oil per year…”

America uses several million barrels of oil (42 gal./barrel) per day in non-passenger transport. The journalist decreased the consumption of America’s goods trucks to a tiny fraction of the real number, and was still impressed.